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# A-35 (F)From: SF ZooReleased from: South HacktowerRemoved from Santa Rosa Island in 2005 .. found with a broken wing and lead poisoning. Rehabbed on mainland and returned to SC April/06 and Re-released.Where now? - Last known had returned to Santa Rosa Island.

Patti and I spent the morning at the Santa Barbara Cemetery.. looking for A-35... she was hard to find.. but a photographer from the SB News Press came and also was looking for her and he ended up being the one to see her, hidden in a nice spot overlooking the ocean... he loved the story about her and the forum and sent his editor out to talk with us.. so that was fun and might be in paper tomorrow.. meanwhile, we called Sara and she came by.. others from birding groups in SB also came by ... Jeanette found us as we were leaving and brought her birding scope which gave a great close-ups.... still going through pics so will let this one be the one for now...isn't she lovely...isn't she won..der..full....

We watched her for three hours and she never left her perch...even with Lala doing her best bird calls and crows and seagulls diving and harassing her. She is one BIG bald eagle for sure. The cemetery caretakers came and checked on her a few times...with their cameras. They are quite protective of her and almost wish nobody would take pictures or notice her...to keep her safe. So sweet. And there she is perched overlooking the magnificent ocean on one side, while American flags are being placed in preparation for Memorial Day weekend on the other....such powerful symbolism...one of "our" blue tagged eagles!!!!

I can't believe it's after 7 o'clock and I'm just reading today's posts! Of course I was busy watching eagles between seeing clients and running catch up errands! Thanks so much P'Mint and LaLa for calling me. I'm so glad the timing was right for me to join you at the cemetery. After snapping hundreds of shots of the back and underside of A-35, Jeanette showed up like an angel from above with her spotting scope. It made all the difference as far as viewing and picture taking were concerned. Thank you Jeanette!!!The image was so clear of A-35 through the scope I could see flies walking on her back! There is not much I can add to LaLa's wonderful portrait posted earlier, but since I took some too, here is one of my pictures through Jeanette's scope:

From: SF ZooReleased from: South Hacktower Removed from Santa Rosa Island in 2005 .. found with a broken wing and lead poisoning. Rehabbed on mainland and returned to SC April/06 and Re-released.Where now? - Last known had returned to Santa Rosa Island.May 20/09 Spotted at the Santa Barbara Cemetery

A bald eagle has landed at Santa Barbara Cemetery and she's drawing a group of fans, some who have been keeping track of her progress via the Internet.

The nearly 4-year-old bird sporting a blue tag marked 35 is part of the nonprofit group Institute for Wildlife Studies' restoration project at Santa Cruz Island intended to bring back the majestic creature, which was found throughout the islands until the early 1960s, when the population succumbed to the insecticide DDT.

Through the Montrose Settlements Restoration Program, which took flight as part of a 2001 consent decree pertaining to Montrose Chemical Corporation's manufacturing plant in Torrance -- responsible for dumping millions of pounds of DDT and PCBs in the Pacific Ocean from the 1940s to 1970s -- eaglets hatched at the San Francisco Zoo and collected from nests in Alaska have been placed in hacking towers on Santa Cruz in hopes of repopulating the northern Channel Islands.

Restoration program officials say 61 bald eagles have been hacked on the northern islands since 2002.

In April 2006, the first eagle chick to hatch on the Channel Islands in 50 years pecked its way out of its shell on Santa Cruz Island.

About 25 bald eagles live on Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa and San Miguel islands.

Cemetery staff said eagle 35 arrived at the spot overlooking the Pacific Ocean, some 25 miles north of the island, about a week ago. Soon after, someone posted a picture of the bird and a nearby mausoleum at an online message board devoted to the restoration program.

That post attracted the attention of restoration program followers Patti Karr and Linda Frazier, who have kept track of the bird via a Web cam pointed at the island nest and went to the cemetery Thursday morning with binoculars and cameras in search of the bird.

The pair spotted the eagle high in a tree by way of a News-Press photographer, who happened upon it while documenting the placement of U.S. flags in honor of Memorial Day.

"It's a female. She originated from an egg from the San Francisco Zoo, and she was released in a hack tower on Santa Cruz Island in 2005," said Ms. Karr, 54, of Carpinteria.

"This is the first time I've seen one of the marked eagles from there over here on the mainland. I've been watching for them for three years," thanks to the Web cam, she said.

"I tuned in and saw this chick on a wild nest and got hooked," she added. "That's how we got involved, watching this little chick grow up."

"Us and a couple thousand others," added Ms. Frazier, 64.

Following the eagles has led to friendships among onetime strangers. After sharing their thoughts online for years, a group of eagle enthusiasts decided to get together.

"We all took a boat from Ventura, went over to Santa Cruz Island and it was like a big blind date," said Ms. Karr.

Ms. Frazier has opened her home to people from New York, but she hears from residents as far away as Holland and Australia.

"We only know each other from the forum, but yet we all feel like we're really good friends. We have this one major thing in common."

Ms. Frazier even keeps a plush-toy key chain attached to her camera strap.

"We're like children," she said. "We have out little stuffed eagles, some make an eagle sound. We have dinners. We take our eagles with us. We prop them on the table with our wine glasses.

"Everyone makes fun of us, but it's something we have to do. It's like part of our makeup."

Forgot to mention that I didn't think A-35 looked in very good condition in either set of photos. I was hoping Cathy/VCOE sent them on to Dr. Sharpe, but do not know. Would be interesting to have his opinion.